Morris Minor Owners Club

I have just bought a set of 9" brake shoes for my TR7 - for £13 delivered!! Comparison shows that these shoes are almost the same as Wolseley 1500 front brake shoes - as used as a very cost effective brake upgrade on many Minors - and it will take very little time to file away some metal on one end nose of the shoe to make it exactly like the Wolsely shoe. At £13 delivered - can't be bad!
Here's the lad I got them from - don't know if he has any left!
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/dumperdave1973

Another set is on the way to me - from this lad http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/midwestltd - and this time for only £10 delivered. I haven't seen them yet - but I fully expect them to be the same shoes.

well done BMC, which model TR7 does it need to be?

Any Idea if the TR7 brake shoe springs would fit? I'm 2 springs down on my set and the other 2 are getting ropey

Has anyone got any tips on sourcing the 9" riley shoes.

The last set cost me £50.

What else were they fitted to?

minormanbill wrote:Has anyone got any tips on sourcing the 9" riley shoes.
The last set cost me £50.

I think I paid £20 for an exchange relined set from Earlpart.

The TR7 shoes have to be specified for the later '5 speed' rear axle which had the 9" brakes. In fact - they are for a Triumph 2000. they may very well fit a Riley - they are slightly wider than the Wolseley shoes but putting them in a W brake drum there is plenty of room for them.

bmcecosse wrote:they may very well fit a Riley

I doubt it. The Riley had a Girling braking system and Wolseley/Minor had Lockheed. The adjuster mechanism and the return springs are totally different for a start.

Yes - but so they are in the Triumph too - in fact they are probably more like the R brakes! The T shoes will have to be modified to fit W brakes - and yes I will have to drill new holes in the shoes for the return springs to put them where the W return springs go! But I consider the modifications to be v minor (!) and not in any way unsafe. I have a pic of the T shoes some where - let me see if I can find it!
Here tis -

In the W set-up - the shoes will of course be fitted as twin leading and not as shown here with one leading and one trailing - this is how they are used in the T rear brakes, to give good braking both forward and backward!
The lining material is positioned on the shoes exactly the same as the W linings in relation to the 'heel' of the shoe which has the same profile etc as the W shoe. the nose of each shoe will need to be v slightly reduced - and a rounded slot filed to allow the shoe to sit on the Minor style adjuster. Spring holes will then be drilled to match the W shoes - although in fact my W shoes already have non-standard spring holes anyway to allow use of 8" drum brake springs.

BMC, can you help? I can't source 5 speed tr7 shoes on ebay, but you mentioned 2000 shoes being same. There appear to be two types of these: early, which look different in hole/slot pattern to yours, or late(auto-adjust type) which appear same pattern as your tr7. My question is- are the mk1 &mk2 2000 shoes same dia as each other, in which case might I be able to adapt the early type(which turn up cheaper due to not having the auto adjust gubbins)?[/list]

Sorry mate -dunno. I've only seen the one type shown above - which indeed have holes for the auto-adjust gubbins in them. I think I paid £10 including postage (which was almost £7!!) for my set.

I have just tracked a set of these down- Triumph 2000/2500 MK 2 are same and seem more widely available than TR7 on Ebay. However....
When I filed the adjuster slot, I found the adjuster cam hit the friction material sole plate. No big problem as the friction material doesn't extend that far, just meant shortening the "sole plate" by about 10mm. Slightly worse was that the extra 1/4" width of the shoes made them JUST bottom out when the drum was bolted back on. I'd gone too far to give up by now, so relieved the relevant smidgen, say 1/32", from the shoe edge with a sophisticated handheld rotary grinding machine! So- if you get the shoes cheap enough (£4) and don't mind a bit of fiddling then fine, in honesty, I found the worst bit trying to guesstimate the shape/position/size of the adjuster slot, the rest was pretty straightforward by comparison!

Thanks for the update LA! I bought two sets - one lot are indeed slightly wider then the W shoes, although the other set are just about right. I will adjust the width exactly as you have done !

Seems a lot of mucking about if as Alex says the correct item is only £20 exchange.

But much more fun!

Kevin wrote:Seems a lot of mucking about if as Alex says the correct item is only £20 exchange.

What is that expression about watching the pennies? "Just" saving £16 means a lot to some people!! (ok and it brightened up a rainy afternoon in the workshop/shed)

I was also 2 Wolseley springs short. I managed to fit 2 shorter Minor springs by using the closer holes. I also fitted the brakes before replacing the hubs which made access slightly easier. Still a bit of a struggle though.

And only possible if you have an old set to 'exchange' - and of course postage each way! Very considerable saving I would say.

New Wolseley brakes up and running. New MOT, just got to bed them in a bit before I try any emergency stops.

Well done ! If they are 'snatching' may be wise to file a cahmfer on the leading edge of each shoe. But i'm sure you will not be disappointed in these brakes!

mike.perry wrote:New Wolseley brakes up and running. New MOT, just got to bed them in a bit before I try any emergency stops.

Welcome to the elite club!!!